Politico Lee Whitnum Files A Lawsuit Against the Town of Darien Claiming She was Unlawfully Arrested and Kept from Her Husband.

2013-May.

Politico Lee Whitnum has filed a lawsuit against the Town of Darien for her unlawful arrest for “trespassing” at the Atria, Darien, on April 18, 2013 a charge Whitnum claims was unlawfully levied.

“According to the law if the Atria Corporation did not like my husband’s wife, me, the best they could do was evict him,” said Whitnum. “The landlord, the Atria Corporation, had no legal right to bar me from my own husband. I called the Darien Police and they were ignorant of the law.”

The gravamen of the Whitnum v. Darien FST-CV-14-5015302-S case is that the Darien Police Department arrested Whitnum on April 18, 2013 for trespassing when she and her assistant went to see her then husband James Baker who was residing at the Atria Corporation. Whitnum claims in court documents that the arrest was unlawful as the Darien Police were ignorant of the law as only Baker could press trespassing charges, not the Atria Corporation. Baker derived no care at Atria which is Assisted Living. According to the law, Assisted Living is the same in the eyes of the law as any other apartment complex.

“My husband Jim Baker had exclusive possession in the eyes of the law of his $7,000 residence and at the time of my arrest the Atria staff and the Darien Police refused to contact my husband and ask him if he’d like a visit with his own wife,” said Whitnum.

Whitnum learned through the deposed testimony of Wendy Winnick Baskin, manager of Atria, that Jim Baker was never informed that his wife was there on the day of the arrest, April 18, 2013.

“We were husband and wife and the choice to see one another should have been ours,” said Whitnum who also claims the events of the night of arrest were misreported by the press who reported that Whitnum had “created a public” disturbance and that Atria is a nursing home.

“Not at all,” said Whitnum. ”I was there to see my husband who is a resident at Atria, he derives no care there. He has a one-bedroom apartment. Atria staff at the front desk refused me access and refused to call upstairs to my husband to ask if he wanted to see me; they refused to even tell him I was there. I was the one who called the police. My assistant and I waited patiently for the police at the front desk, unfortunately they did not know the law.”

On May 25, 2012, the Bakers, while in their Stamford marital residence learned that Baker’s $5 million portfolio had been fraudulently conveyed into a trust controlled by his adult children. The shock seemed to effect the already infirmed Baker physically.

“My husband was distraught. He took to the bed, he then returned to Atria, Darien two days later on May 27, 2012 to get his art work and I never saw him alone again, I was barred at the door by the Atria Corporation staff ever since,” said Whitnum who had been trying to talk with her husband since then.

Whitnum blames the Darien Police for their ignorance of law and the Atria Corporation, but mainly the judges in Stamford. Emons and four other judges denied due process of the Wells Fargo transfer document to prove the fraudulently conveyance.

“By denying the Requests for Production, and Capias to prove the fraudulent conveyance, the judges took away the only bargaining chip I had to negotiate with the powerful children to bring my husband home,” said Whitnum. “The judges purposefully deny due process.”

Whitnum claims five judges have denied due process and four judges have denied Motion for Telephone Conversation. “Even criminals get a phone conversation but not the Bakers,” said Whitnum.

“The Atria Corporation has its own agenda but the Darien Police and the judges in Connecticut are supposed know the law and uphold it, but they don’t,” said Whitnum.

In the lawsuit Whitnum is also claiming the ongoing intentional infliction of emotional distress as the Darien Police are continuing to keep her from her husband under threat of more arrest.

“The choice to see each other should be between husband and wife, not the Darien Police Department doing the bidding of third parties.” said Whitnum.